The money will be used to finance academic exchanges in the coming academic year * The scholarships will be distributed to 47 lecturers, post-doctoral researchers and outstanding American and Israeli students
The US-Israel Education Foundation, which manages Israel's participation in the prestigious Fulbright program, plans to award scholarships in the amount of 1.7 million dollars for academic exchanges that will take place in the coming academic year 2012/13. The scholarships will be distributed to 47 lecturers, post-doctoral researchers and outstanding students - 23 Americans and 24 Israelis, from all academic disciplines.
The expected amount of scholarships is 83% greater compared to the amount of scholarships awarded for the 2002/2003 academic year.
The impressive increase in the scope of scholarships was made possible thanks to a new record in Israeli government support for the Fulbright Israel program. This support should amount to over 1.1 million dollars, which is an increase of 158% compared to 2002/2003. According to Dr. Neil Sherman, CEO of the USA-Israel Education Fund, strengthening the cooperation of the USA-Israel Education Fund with the Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBA) of the Higher Education Council is the key element in the program's growth.
In addition to the scholarships that will be paid from the Education Fund's own budget, another 28 scholarships will be awarded - 14 to Israelis and 14 to Americans - which will be financed from budgets managed by the Fulbright headquarters in the USA.
Therefore, the total amount of grants to be distributed within the framework of the Fulbright Israel program in the 2012 budget year is expected to exceed $2,250,000.
Fulbright is the first intergovernmental program launched to promote scientific ties between Israel and the US. Israel's participation in this program is managed by the US-Israel Education Foundation. Since the establishment of the United States-Israel Education Fund in 1956, about 1600 Israelis have won Fulbright scholarships for studies, further training and research in the USA, and about 1200 lecturers, post-doctoral researchers and American students have won Fulbright grants for professional visits to Israel.
